"Who we are as Americans."

Perhaps you too have been wondering why it is that President Obama is always, always telling
us who we are as Americans and who we are not... The little clump of words about who we are as
Americans pops out of the president's mouth so often it's easy to miss it...

...The phrase, you'll notice, carries a vaguely therapeutic air.
Our language everywhere shows the smudgy hand of the therapist,
the life coach, the counselor, the facilitator. People nowadays say they "reach out" to people that
they just used to talk to, and "share" things when they just used to say things, and talk of themselves,
of their feelings and impressions and habits, without ceasing. It is the mission of the therapists and
life coaches to enable you to find yourself, "to discover who you really are as a person," to
decant the authentic you. I suppose it was inevitable that the seductive language of therapy would
migrate into the language of politics...

What Islam is and isn't:

Sharyl Attkisson: How the media protects Obama.
Get the book. Read it. Clear the fuzz from your brain.

Sep 27, 2014:

Maher: re-check what you mean by "liberal".

Sep 27, 2014:

We still have a few real journalists:

Sep 13, 2014:

It isn't "Islamic"? It isn't "war"?

And worth a redux -- let's not forget what a liar Hillary Clinton is, and that she indeed had the authority to
utter the "stand down" (wait) orders.

From JudicialWatch
this week: Documents Reveal State Department Officials Told
Three Months before Attack that Benghazi Security Guards Abandoning Posts Out of Fear for Safety.
"'These documents show that the U.S. Special Mission at Benghazi was a sitting duck and that the State Department's
local militia 'security' feared for their own safety and wouldn't even show up to provide necessary protection'...
'All security indicators were flashing red and, perhaps, with a show of strength to secure the Benghazi mission,
U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods might be alive today...'"

Sep 07, 2014:

The truth about Islam, from "Brother Rashid".

President Obama tells us that "ISIL speaks for no religion," while John Kerry assures us that "The real face of Islam is a peaceful religion based on the dignity of all human beings." It is curious that this is perhaps the one proposition on which they agree with George W. Bush.

But is it true? Brother Rashid, a Muslim who converted to Christianity and now hosts an Arabic-language television show, tells Obama, "with all due respect," that he is wrong: ISIL is thoroughly Islamic and follows in the footsteps of Mohammed.

It would be nice if Islam were a religion of peace, but what would be nice isn't always true...

Sep 02, 2014:

Why is "this" important?

All over the world, simultaneously at any given second, an uncountable number of people are: being subjected to grave
injustices that will ruin their lives; or being
beaten, raped, tortured, maimed and murdered; or in the throes of painful and severe illnesses; or starving; or
being discriminated against; or losing loved ones, including children; or witnessing various horrors and
atrocities.

For each individual who is suffering, that others also are suffering or facing worse, or that others are faring better or even living charmed lives, is an irrelevancy that neither
increases nor decreases the particular individuals' pain. Similarly, for each individual who has strived mightily and has failed,
that strangers in his or her the "same demographic group" have succeeded
is of little consolation.

So on what basis do we pluck out the isolated stories that together make up the tapestry of how we see the world?
Why are some stories significant, heralded in the news headlines and carried for years, while others are just not even on the radar?

Why, e.g., is it important and make worldwide news when one already ill woman in Ireland
dies because she cannot get an abortion, when on the same day thousands of other
pregnant women also are dying horrible deaths?

Why, e.g., was the "anniversary" on August 24 of Emmett Till's murder passed around and around the blogsphere and listserves as imparting some kind of important information or
relevant moral story today for our lives, whereas that same day was also the ignored anniversary of all kinds of other events arguably just as important, such as: (1391)
hundreds of Jews massacred in Palma de Mallorca; (1572) thousands of Protestants massacred by the King of France; (1940) thousands died in German Lufwaffe air raids; (2004) 89
airline passengers died in terrorist attacks by female Chechen suicide bombers; (2014) in Willow Springs, Illinois, Luis Zapata shot his wife Samantha Zapata, in the back and killed
her, and in Coventry, Connecticut, Gregory Pawloski murdered his girlfriend Janet Lesko, and roughly 45 other people in the U.S. were murdered, half of them by blacks, who
represent less than 13% of the population. In light of all of this, what made the Emmett Till story of more significance -- today? What was the message, or lesson, or moral being
passed on?

Why, e.g., was this current headline written: "U.S. and Canadian Arctic one of the world's most dangerous places for women" in a place with sparse population and relatively few
incidents and atrocities (regardless of the "rate") compared with, say, the daily murders going on in Deerborn or DC? What was the point worthy of making this a story in the social
discourse -- to bring U.S. and Canada in the minds of the public to the level of places like Pakistan, Syria, Congo, Somalia, etc? To diss the encroachment of Anglo taint
(alcohol, e.g.) into ostensibly charming traditional Eskimo life? To be shocking and drive traffic to the website? For ANY woman who gets raped or murdered ANYWHERE, where she is at
that moment in time is equal to the most dangerous place on earth.

Why, e.g., was the death of Robin Williams worthy of so many headlines? Why do we care why or how he died
(by his own hand, in what looks more likely to have been another drugged autoerotic asphyxiation, which tactfully
will not be whispered in the press**) on a day when millions of others around the world were murdered or died unwanted deaths?
[** he was in a seated position on a chair with a belt around his
neck and his hands free, with the other end of the belt wedged into the frame of his closet door]. On the same day,
millions of people lost parents, spouses, children, siblings and other loved ones -- and each one of these events were of
infinitely more
importance to the individuals directly affected.

Clearly, what makes some stories significant isn't necessarily that they speak truths,
or are of something
that holds special personal significance to us, or are more shocking than others, or constitute an accurate random sampling of events, or
give us close to an accurate
picture of the world.

Just something to keep in mind next time another screaming missive comes around designed to appeal to your emotions
for ulterior reasons.

I suppose it's rude to ask -- but WHY is it rude to ask -- WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

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